NWSL's DeMelo reveals she has hyperthyroidism

Racing Louisville FC midfielder Savannah DeMelo spoke publicly this week for the first time about being diagnosed with Graves' disease and hyperthyroidism, describing her struggles managing the conditions last year but expressing confidence that she can continue to perform at a high level.

Attention was drawn to DeMelo's health during her team's March 22 road game against Bay FC. DeMelo felt dizzy and tight in the chest in the first half. Her heart rate wasn't slowing and she struggled to breathe for about three minutes, she said.

Eventually, DeMelo sat down and told the referee she didn't feel well. She was stretchered off the field at PayPal Park and taken to a local hospital. It was a scary incident for teammates and onlookers, but the event didn't occur entirely out of the blue.

DeMelo was diagnosed with Graves' disease and hyperthyroidism last fall, speaking publicly about it for the first time with ESPN.

"Playing a 90-minute game felt unbearable," DeMelo told ESPN. "I would get to maybe the 25th minute, and I felt like my heart was just like beating so fast, like out of my chest. I felt so out of breath, so out of shape. I didn't really know what was going on."

DeMelo, whose breakout 2023 NWSL season led to a spot -- and a starting role -- on the USWNT's World Cup team that year despite being uncapped at the time, hadn't been feeling like herself last year.

One day in September, DeMelo said, she woke up and her Oura Ring -- which monitors health and sleeping habits -- measured her resting heart rate at 85 beats per minute, about double her usual.

"I said things like, 'Oh, maybe I need to sleep more. Maybe we were traveling a lot. Maybe I'm not eating enough protein.' I kind of went through that for a while," she said.

Then her mom, who is a nurse, came to visit in October and noticed that DeMelo's thyroid looked visibly enlarged. DeMelo's mom encouraged her to go have bloodwork done, and that's when doctors noticed something was wrong.

Hyperthyroidism is a rare condition that speeds up bodily functions, causing symptoms like rapid heart rate and weight loss. About 1 out of 100 Americans aged 12 years and older have hyperthyroidism, according to the National Institutes of Health, though it is more common in women and in people over the age of 60.

Graves' disease, which DeMelo was also diagnosed with, is an autoimmune disease that can cause hyperthyroidism.

Dr. Jennifer Daily, who is Racing Louisville's chief medical officer, said the 27-year-old DeMelo is the first athlete in this age range she has worked with who has hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease. Daily has been involved in the University of Louisville's athletics program, which includes about 600 student-athletes, for over a decade.

There are also genetic factors: DeMelo's mom has hypothyroidism, which causes an underactive thyroid.

DeMelo sat out Louisville's final game of the 2024 season as a precaution. While she says the new diagnosis wasn't causing her to play poorly, she acknowledges the effects took a toll during games.

"People have bad games. I don't think my thyroid problems are why I'm losing the ball in those areas in any way. Sometimes, I'm just having a bad game," DeMelo told ESPN.

"But I think it was more the energy piece of it, the ability to make those runs, the ability to, when I get the ball, not be so fatigued that I can make clear decisions and be decisive and just provide energy. I think I'm a player that likes to go forward, get back in defense, like, I'm kind of everywhere. And I feel like I really couldn't do that because I was truly exhausted."

Daily and Racing Louisville's team got DeMelo an appointment with an endocrinologist within days of getting her bloodwork results last October. DeMelo began taking medications to lower her heart rate and slow her thyroid, and she felt like she was in a good place. Her medical team checked in with her again before DeMelo left Louisville for the offseason.

Then she was selected for the USWNT's January training camp for her first international recall in over a year. Her preseason bloodwork and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels -- which are part of the NWSL's standard preseason testing -- all came back as normal in January.

DeMelo now meets with her endocrinologist monthly and has bloodwork done every three weeks. She had to reschedule an appointment right around the time of the Bay FC incident, Daily said.

It was an emergency event during a match on March 22, when DeMelo's heart rate was too slow for the demand of a professional soccer game, that revealed a new imbalance due to her medication.

It was a scary moment for Racing Louisville players, who watched DeMelo receive extended attention before being taken to the hospital. Her mom had driven up to the game from her family's Southern California home and joined her at the hospital.

The NWSL recently had another major on-field emergency when Angel City FC defender Savy King was rushed from the field to a Los Angeles hospital, where doctors "discovered a heart abnormality" and performed surgery a few days later. The two incidents were medically very different, but each was alarming to those watching. Following the incident involving King, the NWSL said that in future when a player suffers a life-threatening emergency, the game should be stopped.

"Savy King, my heart goes out to her," DeMelo said. "I can't imagine how scared [she was] and what she's feeling, but we do have very different situations. ... Mine was more due to the medication I was on and what my thyroid was doing to my body."

DeMelo now takes one pill per day instead of three and skips Sundays, she said. Medication will manage her symptoms for now. Thyroid removal surgery is a potential long-term solution, but DeMelo said she is hoping to avoid that.

"This is a very big diagnosis, because it's chronic and so it's something that she is going to need to have frequent office visits, frequent lab draws, and those things are stressful," Daily told ESPN, noting that the mental demand on the athlete is significant with such a diagnosis. "And medications can have side effects."

DeMelo said she is still learning about her diagnosis, and what the rest of her life might look like, each day.

She also said she is starting to feel like herself again. She has "peace of mind," and her energy levels are back, she said. She added that she feels like she can now make better decisions, dribble at defenders, and push her body again.

"I feel like the 2023 year was an amazing year. I scored a lot of goals, and I had a lot of assists, and I was dangerous," she said. "And I still feel like I'm that player. I feel like I'm still just the same. Maybe I'm not scoring as much, or I have a couple assists, but my game has always been to be dangerous and to drive at players, get fouled, get crosses in, all those things.

"I think that's still who I am, and I'm hoping that kind of being back consistently now can help me to have consistent performances like I did."